Do Not Disturb
by Fishy-Indeed
Summary: When Life gives you lemons, throw obscure references at it. Shepard/Garrus romance shown through a humorous light. Past Shepard/Kaidan.
1. Of Dirty magazines and Krogan Chunks

Chapter 1 Of Dirty magazines and Krogan Chunks

A/N so this is just came from a thought that popped into my head. This is meant to be slightly humorous but there are serious moments. Shepard's a Earthborn/Sole Survivor. Gained biotic abilities while dead and now is a Vanguard.

Archangel sat in his little alcove, surround by heat sinks, wrappers, and dirty magazines. The magazines were his squad's and he hadn't the heart or the time to throw them away. So they sat there sticky and looking indifferent to Archangels current plight. Mercs surrounded the apartment of the vigilante turian, tipping over flower pots and generally causing a ruckus. The image brought a rare smile to the now jaded turian.

Peering down his scope he noticed something he thought he would never see before.

Shepard?

Fearing for both his sanity and that hallucinogenics were now wafting through the air vents, as this is a common occurrence on the station. His last hallucination was an horrible orgy occurring in front of him that included elcor, hanar , and volus participants. To this day he still awoke screaming from the nightmares.

"She's with Archangel." the mercs cried before a mist of blood splattered on his newly cleaned rug.

"Bitches, I got plus 5 attack," she screamed before shooting another in the head.

Thank the spirits for Mrs. Blargaloch's Blood Remover, which can get rid of the hardest blood stains from any surface.

His eyes travelled from the most welcome sight imaginable to the dirty magazines.

Shit.

With the speed and agility of a predator he leaped up, grabbing the magazines, and shoved them under the cushions of his couch. He then, after wiping his hands on the nearest surface, went back to his alcove to catch sight of his hallucination. Peering down the scope of his gun, the door opened behind him.

"Archangel?" he could see her now, head tilting sideways.

Raising a finger to motion her to wait, unwilling to turn around and see nothing. He shot a merc in the head and lifting himself up. He turned, pulling off his helmet, praying to whatever deity that would listen, that this was real.

She died, Garrus, nothing can bring her back.

But there she stood. Looking as invincible as the moment he first laid eyes on her. He sat upon one of the numerous surfaces in the room.

"Shepard, I thought you were dead," He said fatigue clear in his voice.

'Garrus, what are you doing here?" she said.

Words passed between them, it didn't matter what was said. She was here, breathing, when he'd thought he'd never see her stupid grin. Or hear her bursting randomly into song in the middle of battle.

She left to deal with the mercs digging their way into the basement. Leaving behind a woman wearing nothing but a catsuit and had a, as Shepard had most elegantly said once, bust that rival the gravitational pull of a small planet.

The initial euphoria was replaced with a darker feeling. The feeling of betrayal swept in like an awful drunk that ruined the most enjoyable dinner party by dancing on the table with nothing but a tutu on.

How dare she leave him, thinking that she was dead, when she was probably on some tropical planet getting totally hammered. Did Alenko know? After spending months of the two making kissy faces at each other during battle, his first impulse was that yes, Alenko did know. Then his logical side chimed in.

Perhaps she had to disappear. Perhaps she was being chased by life insurance salesmen and had to fake her death to run away from the unmerciful bastards. So perhaps Alenko didn't know. His anger slowly trickled away. Yes that had to be it. He and Shepard had developed a friendship that would bring even the ultimate bros to shame. A friendship that clearly had the biotic jealous.

Garrus came out of thought to hear Garm trampling up the stairs fuming, no doubt, at the passing remarks that he had made about his mothers sexual decency.

As the two of them got into a "your mama" battle of epic proportions. Shepard flew around the corner, glancing at the krogan, pulled out her shot gun, and began blue with biotic power.

He barely had time for What? to go through his head before she used the biotic energy to fling her self into the krogan. Now with easy mutilating distance of the krogan, she aimed her shotgun up his nose and fired. Gooey bits and blood flew everywhere. His face splattered with the former merc. The first thought that went through his head was.

Ew.

And then.

No Ingesting.

She walked towards him, putting her shot gun away.

"Only Blue Sun's left. How about we get the hell out of Dodge." She said, smiling her familiar smile.

He had no clue what Dodge was. But he agreed with her, getting the gist.

The gunship that he had destroyed had the audacity to show it's ugly muzzle around here. It immediately began dropping off mercs.

So much for the security deposit.

Quickly dispersing of the mercs. The gunship showed up to say, "Thought you'd seen the last of me?"

Then his face exploded.

"Garrus!"

Her face seemed to float above him, glowing like the sun. And then he was suddenly self-conscience of the fact he was going to die with krogan chunks in his fringe.

* * *

><p>He opened his eyes expecting to see half naked women, of the turian variety, as he was most certainly dead. He instead saw the silvery gray hair of a human woman.<p>

Chakwas?

Last he'd heard, she was sent to Mars to hand out advil to the hung over scientists from partying too much.

"Garrus, I totally think that you should chill out man, for you is tripping." Chakwas inexplicably said.

"What?" he asked nearly bursting into laughter.

She sighed, bringing her omni-tool to his ear, and began typing at the console.

"Your translator was damaged in the explosion. I think I just fixed it" she said the orange device disappearing.

"Before you go to Shepard, I need to explain something," she said as she grabbed a chair out of nowhere and sat down.

"She died, Garrus, when the Normandy was destroyed two years ago. Cerberus recovered her body and brought her back." She said, as he sat there wondering if his translator was still damaged.

He brought up his own omni-tool and looked at the readings. Whatever damage had happened to it had been repaired.

He sat there as reality sank in.

"Where's Shepard?" he finally asked, after he'd trapped himself in another logic loophole.

"She's upstairs in the Com Room. But before you go I have to tell you something." She said, pulling out a pen and paper to draw him a map.

She handed it to him, "You're face took some damage in the explosion. We had to use some cybernetics to keep your face together. But there are some scarring."

He reached up to his face and noticed for the first time the bandage that cover half his face.

Why in the hell do I have to urge to sing Phantom of the Opera.

Nothing left to say, he dragged his aching limbs out of the bed and got up.

* * *

><p>"Commander, we've done all that we could do for Garrus. But he took a hard hit." Jacob droned as all Shepard could do was stare at the table.<p>

"But..."

"Shepard," his beautifully flanged voice broke through Jacob's drawl.

"Tough son of a bitch, didn't think he would be up yet." Shepard ignored him as her eyes travelled across the rough contours of his face to rest at his scars.

"Nobody would give me a mirror, how bad is it," he asked gesturing at his face while walking towards her.

What in the hell was she going to say. I'm sorry Garrus, but swoons of fangirls will being throwing themselves at you for the rugged manliness of your scars.

"Hell Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some facepaint on there and no one will even know the difference," She joked hoping she didn't offend him.

To her immense relief he laughed, "Don't make me laugh, Shepard. My face is barely holding together as it is."

"Some woman find scars attractive," Damn right they do, "Mind you, most of those woman are krogan."

Jacob then gave a salute and left.

"I'm more worried about you, Shepard. Remember all those sick experiments Cerberus was doing."

"That's why I'm glad your here Garrus, If I'm walking into hell I want someone I trust at my side."

"You know this plan had me walking into hell too. Ah. Just like old times."

He straightened his body out and added before turning away, "I'll settle myself in the main battery. I'm fit for duty whenever you need me."

Just like old time indeed.


	2. Crazies, Linux, and Mordin Oh My

A/N Swoon is now the official word for a a group of fangirls. A murder of crows, a cabinet owls, a swoon of fangirls. See it makes perfect sense. Please review. Hate it. Love it. Tell me if my weird sense of humor at the very least makes you giggle. I'd really like to know.

Chapter 2 Crazies, Linux, and Mordin Oh My

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away. You think I'm stupid," Jack seethed.

"Yep,"

Garrus face palmed at the stupid honesty that she had displayed in that one word. The one thing that made Commander Shepard's day. Pissing off insanely powerful biotics that, oh yeah, aren't the most stable.

The biotic bristled as if Shepard walked over there and slapped her with a haddock.

"I'll go with you if you give me Cerberus files."

"Commander, can't just give away classified information," Miranda interjected.

"It pisses off the cheerleader, even better," Jack began pacing again.

"Okay," the Commander simply stated.

* * *

><p>"She's clearly insane," Miranda raved.<p>

"Insane's the best way to be Miranda. Maybe you should lighten up. Get pissed drunk, sleep with a random stranger, then notice several days later you got a pink unicorn tattooed on you left asscheek." she nonchalantly stated, peering down onto the orange screen of the data pad.

"That sounds strangely personal," Miranda looked away uncomfortable.

"Okay Miranda, how about this. The two of you stay in your separate corners, and I'll stop stealing from your chocolate stash."

"You've been stealing my chocolate," to an alien this would seem a trivial matter, but fights for chocolate between two human females has resulted in death on occasion.

"Well lookey here," Shepard said looking at her bare wrist," I gotta go and you know, stop Garrus from doing any work."

She then left the Cerberus Operative, whom was foaming at the mouth.

* * *

><p>Garrus peered onto the orange console, his head throbbing.<p>

Who in the hell's idea was to make the operating system Linux.

All human operating systems were crap, Guido (a turian system) was the only good system out there. But seriously. Linux? Did they run out money spending it on Joker's fancy leather seats.

cd ..\..\calibrations,exe

Error no such file or directory. Suggest killing yourself

Garrus merely rubbed what could be called the bridge of his nose. A human thing that he'd picked up from the crew of the first Normandy. Despite his urge to wrench the smart assed tormenter out of post on which it stood and run it down to Miranda's room and whack the Cerberus bitch across the face with it, he merely pulled out his Linux cheat sheet.

The door swooshed open behind him.

"Need me for something?" he turned to face the one person in this galaxy he could trust.

"Guess you could say that," She shrugged, "I need someone to keep on eye on the ship, make sure Jack and Miranda don't kill each other."

"Where are you going," his heart sinking into his chest, thinking that his only role on this ship was to act as a baby-sitter.

"We're going to pick up the Salarian, Mordin. The area is quarantined for plague which humans happen to be immune to. I think it's only best to have an all human squad for this one," she said while fiddling on her omni-tool.

"Who are you taking," he asked trying to keep the apprehension out of his voice, if he were to be honest he feared he'd turn his back on her and she would slip back into the void.

"I'm thinking Zaeed and Kasumi, I need to see how well they do. Also between the three of us we would have ranger, wizard, and tank. I mean... damnit," covering her face with her hands but it still didn't prevent him from seeing the bright red her face had gone.

He tried not to think about how adorable she looked at the moment and thought about the squad mates she had chosen. He wasn't sure about how much he trusted the mercenary. Probably to make sure that he accepted the deal, Cerberus would've had to pay a large chunk up front. As well as a large part of the bargaining chip gone, he didn't like the way the man strutted around as if he owned the place. And Kasumi, well if he had anything worthwhile to steal, he'd be checking his possessions a lot more often than he was doing now.

But the truth is he didn't trust them to protect her as well as he could. They didn't know the way she ran out of cover in order to get a better shot. If he didn't go, he wasn't sure if he'd ever see her again.

"Kasumi's nice, though you have to keep checking if you have your watch still, but I don't trust Zaeed,"

Real fucking subtle there Garrus.

"You want to go, don't you," she softly said, not meeting his eyes.

The silence between dragged on into minutes before Shepard lifted her hand to activate her com.

"Kasumi, be ready to go in fifteen minutes. I need you to come with me to the pisshole," she lowered her hand looking straight into his eyes.

"If you start hacking up a lung, it's your own fault," she said while walking backwards away form him, "Oh and be ready in fifteen minutes."

* * *

><p>The vorcha started saying the most unpleasant things, that if their grandmothers could hear, would have them sitting in the corner with a bar of soap in their mouth. In fact, unlike their delinquent grandchildren. Vorcha, after reaching a point in their life, begin to psychologically change. A change that brings even the most savage vorcha into an coddling grandparent, insisting that everyone takes an extra serving of roadkill and that everyone uses their inside voices.<p>

However Garrus Vakarian was not a vorcha grandmother, so instead of a bar of soap, he gave them a bullet.

"Scopped and Dropped,"

His throat had been burning for the last fifteen minutes, his muscles throbbing, and he had been restraining from hacking uncontrollably. He had never wished so hard in his life to see a doctor. So when he saw the cross that indicated a clinic, if able he would've given a jump for joy.

He heard the tell tale voice of a salarian. Speaking at a thousand words per minute, when occasionally he might throw out a word used in a day by day vocabulary.

That word was mostly 'and'.

The salarian explained, big surprise, that they had to inject the cure into the ventilation system. Which had the commander grumbling on the way there.

"Stupid frakking side quests."

Her usual charm, the immunobooster helped, nurtured a small fire of happiness inside him, that he hadn't felt for a long time.

So it was with extra glee that he ended the lives of the vorcha, despite the fact that their grandmothers were probably worrying sick about them.

"You work for Doctor, put cure in air," one of the vorcha hissed, "We kill you."

"I work for the Doctor apparently," she commented to Garrus, after ducking for cover, "You'd think I'd remember working for a time travelling alien."

Kasumi laughed, while he merely looked confusingly at her.

After injecting the cure into the system, they ran to both sides of the room to turn on the fans.  
>"Everyone will begin inhaling the cure. Now let's get the hell off of Omega,"<p>

"Well done Shepard," Mordin complimented.

"And for me too. I thought those batarians were going to kill me," Daniel said.

"I thought even after getting them to let me go you were going to shoot them," the assistant stated.

"I could've, couldn't I," Shepard said smiling and nodding. "I didn't even think of it."

"Risky, would've killed them myself," Mordin chirped.

As the salarian and the human berated each other, Shepard turned to him, concern in her eyes.

"You ok?" She asked, referring to the plague.

"I'm fine. A gunship couldn't bring me down. A simple cough wouldn't either." he tried to reassure her.

It worked, as she smiled at him, he tried to smiled back at her (as a turian would smile) but his heart was sinking with guilt.


	3. For All of Those That We've Lost

A/N This is a serious chapter. I did mention at the beginning that there would be serious moments. Well this is one of them. Entails Horizon, anniversary of the Attack on Akuze, and Alchera. Hence why this is a serious moment in the story. The next chapter will be back to the random silliness that we all love.

Chapter 3 For All of Those That We've Lost

She looked so intent on the task at hand. So completely opposite of the Shepard he was used to. It was probably due to the fact that Kaidan was stationed at Horizon. Her face unwilling to give away any thoughts that flickered across her mind. But her unusually serious, flicking between the frozen colonists that they happened to come across, no doubt looking for the familiar face of the biotic.

They walked into a clearing with two Scions. As they tried to deal with the monstrosities, the familiar moans of husks emanated from one of the nearby platforms. Jack let loose a biotic shockwave that sent the husks shooting through the air. Their bodies, upon hitting the ground, immediately burst into a spray of liquid and body parts.

Shepard's shields failed at the torrent of blue liquid that the Scions shot from the gun grafted to their arm. Shepard sword and ducked into cover only to be immediately flanked by husks.

Garrus could only watch in horror, as it seemed the recently resurrected human would now die in front of him. But Shepard had other plans.

Beginning to glow with biotic power. She released it to fling the husks surrounding her into the air.

With all of the enemies defeated, they ran to the gun in the middle of the clearing. EDI began to repair the damage, and the three of them took up defensive positions. As they fought off the waves of enemies, her lips became more and more thin. Panic in her eyes. When it seemed that the battle was over. An Abomination, seemingly stitched together out of the skulls and flesh of several species, flew over the walls of the complex. It began to fire a beam, aimed at Shepard.

She ducked behind some crates before the beam could fully deplete her shields. She pulled out the newly acquired Particle beam, filled it with heavy ammo. And began to fire back.

When the enemy turned into dust and scattered into the wind. The Collector ship gave a rumble, and began to take off.

The man from before ran out and started to scream at the Commander for 'Failing.'

"I did all that I could," she replied, bitterness at herself clear in her voice.

"More than most, Shepard," he replied, trying to convince her that she wasn't a failure, couldn't be a failure.

"Shepard, I remember you, some big Alliance hero."

"Commander Shepard, Saviour of the Citadel. You're in the presence of a legend, Delan, and a ghost."

Their arms embraced each other. And for a few moments the two of them were safe. Safe from the horrors of the last few hours.

The he turned on her. Accusing her of betraying everything they believed in.

Garrus's fists clenched in rage. How _dare _blame her. He had wished for nothing more than to strike the biotic across the face. But instead he stood there, grinding his teeth.

All three of them, sitting in the shuttle. Jack staying, thankfully, quiet. She seemed to know when not to piss the commander off. He took a glance at Shepard. He felt as if something strong and unbreakable had just crumbled into little, tiny pieces in front of him. Her face set in stone but her eyes looking devastated.

She left them without saying anything, to go to com-room to report to the Illusive Man. Garrus solemnly walked to the main battery.

* * *

><p>He stood there in front of the console in the Main Battery. It had been a few days since Horizon. But he'd barely seen any of Shepard. When he did, she seemed distant. Eyes seeing beyond reality no doubt replaying the incident.<p>

He debated whether he should go see her. It seemed awfully intrusive, barging on her moment of heartfelt grief.

But why? his mind countered, it is a friends duty to be there in times of hardship.

"EDI?" he softly spoke, still not having made up his mind.

"Commander Shepard is in her quarters," the blue orb from the corner chimed.

"If you do not speak with her soon, I will send Operator Lawson or Yeoman Chambers, but I highly recommend you see her due to your past relationship," the AI added.

As he stood there still considering, EDI pointed out, "She needs a friend at the moment, Officer Vakarian."

The Turian pulled himself away from the console and began to trek to the elevator. He waited as the elevator slowly came to a stop outside the commander's quarters door.

He stood there, bracing himself, before raising his hand to press the green button to let him into the room.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim blue light of the room, he took it in. Closest to him were a desk with a glass display case, full of model ships. The only light source in the room was a giant aquarium, it shining light blue on the floor, shadows flitting around as the fish inside swam around.

And across the room from him was an enormous bed, almost disproportionate with the small human sprawled across it, bottle of whisky in hand.

"Hey," she barely lifted her head to look at him.

He sat next to her on the bed, "Is this because of Kaidan."

"No. Well maybe a little bit." she said , taking a swig, before continuing, "It's the anniversary of the attack on Akuze."

His throat tightened at the thought of her being alone in here, thinking about the loss of fifty good men.

"Toombs emailed me," she said, swirling the contents of the bottle around, "He said if he found me he would kill me."

"Do you need anything," he tried to say it as gently as he could.

She stared into the bottle before handing it towards them, "Drink to them with me."

He reached across the bed, and onto the bed side table grabbing the glass there. Pouring a decent amount into the cup, he passed the bottle back to Shepard.

She murmured before taking another drink, "For all of those that we've lost."

He murmured his assent, taking a huge swig out of his glass.

* * *

><p>She sat in the leather seats of the Kodiak. In her hands was her helmet. Charred, it's eyes stared up at her reminding her of her lose.<p>

_I loved you._

Dammit Kaidan. Why didn't you let me explain. Do you really think that our relationship didn't mean the world to me.

Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. To cry was weakness.

After all of this was over, if Kaidan wanted to continue what they once had. She'd have to say no. She didn't know if she could trust him anymore. Their relationship had fallen apart on Horizon, now it was time to see if Kaidan realized it.

She instead thought of last night, when she and Garrus got drunk, chatting about their respective childhoods.

Garrus.

Every time the turian sarcastically joked with her. Her heart broke a little more. Humour is used for hiding from problems you didn't want to face. His new-found gritty humour only showed Shepard how jaded he'd truly became in the last two years.

The shuttle landed into the Normandy's loading bay. She gathered up the dog tags up beside her, keeping on arm around her helmet.

She gently thumbed the helmet. Now was a time for new chances.

Let's make the best out of this new life.

A/N So I did a little research. Whiskey doesn't have any protein in it. So Garrus can't have a allergic reaction. If Garrus would even have one. I have serious doubts about how serious Mordin was.


	4. Ain't no Rest for the Wicked

A/N I have a half assed excuse for not updating. I have been in a Skyrim/Dragon Age/ Skyward Sword coma. But I feel like I should thank all of you people. I feel honoured to get the support that I've been getting. Even if you don't review, the fact that you're reading this shows that this whole shenanigan is worth following chapter to chapter. And we are sort of getting to the end of it.

Chapter 4 Ain't no Rest for the Wicked.

Two years earlier on the SSR Normandy

"I'm telling you Garrus. Hard plate is the way armors going to go." Her voice rang out, echoing within the metal walls of the ship.

"We're not going back to the medieval ages, commander." he countered, voice slightly muffled through the insides of the Mako.

She shuffled slightly on the crate next to the vehicle.

"Bet you fifty credits that two years from now. All armor will be hard suits.

"You've got yourself a deal."

Back to the present.

"Dammit Shepard, you had to be right," he sighed, looking down at his own armor, "I hardly have any right to judgemental though."

Truth be told he'd only bought the armor because it reminded him of that chat next to Mako. It also had really good protection. He could only hope that she didn't remember the bet that they had made two year ago. As she hadn't brought it up so far should suggest that she'd forgotten.

But as soon as the thought had the audacity to float across his head. Shepard seemed to melt out of the floor, hand reaching out expectantly.

* * *

><p>Running over the bridge on top of the Dantius tower, fifty credits lighter, sniping anyone foolish enough to come into the crosshairs of his sniper rifle.<p>

"Never saw me coming." as an eclipse merc's head burst apart in a spray of gore.

The three of them leaped over the crates on top of the bridge. Garrus watched fascinated as her hair whipped around in the wind. Unloading her shotgun into the last asari's face. She turned around and gave Garrus the biggest grin ever.

"It's beautiful up here."

The lights from the city reflected in her hair. Creating a glimmering cascade of fine threads that drew his eyes to it. Her eyes were shining with a strange emotion. She turned to him and nodded.

Their eyes connected, and some foreign emotion danced across her face. As he tried to place it, her face turned hard, and it was gone.

"Let's move out."

* * *

><p>He stood there typing at the thrice damned console. He sighed, deciding that he would rather not think about how this console seemed to hate him and always managed to delete his work for the day. He instead turned to a subject of less rage.<p>

Thane Krios, the drell assassin. And their new recruit.

He supposed his skills would be useful for the mission. But something felt off about him. He didn't feel like he could trust him. He wasn't as blatant of it as Jacob was. He supposed it had to do with all the time he spent in Omega. This general distrust of all mercenaries.

He figured he could a least give the drell a chance.

An idea for later.

She peered at the orange screen, hacking the machine. It started as a hum and then to Garrus's amazement, she started singing.

Softly but yet she was singing.

"Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked, money don't grow on trees. I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, There ain't nothing in this world for free. I know I can't slow down, I can't hold back, Though you know, I wish I could. No there ain't no rest for the wicked, Until we close our eyes for good".  
>She looked around to see the two aliens staring at her.<p>

"What? I could've gone into show biz if I hadn't joined the navy."

She turned on her heel and walked away, followed by two very bemused aliens.

* * *

><p>"You sing?" A very amused Joker asked from across the table.<p>

"I needed someway to make money. It was either performing in bars or standing on street corners," she merely replied, taking a sip of coffee,"I merely picked the one with less STDs."

His eyebrow scrunched together as he responded, "I noticed you said 'less'."

Her only response was a raised eyebrow.

Joker coughed uncomfortably into his fist before changing the subject, "So, how do you know all about obscure old earth references and stuff."

"Back on earth," she paused dramatically, " I visited a Library. The end."

She thought about it before replying, "I also wore a bow tie."

"You always struck me as a Tennant fan. I guess his angst-fest is better than the stupid celery."

"Do. Not. Mock the celery." she punctuated, fuming.

* * *

><p>"Shepard I'm glad you came by I may need your help," he rumbled watching her slip into the at ease position.<p>

"You remember Sidonis, the one who betrayed my team? I found a lead on him. " he studied her in order to gauge a reaction, but besides from a non-committal nod of the head he didn't recognize any emotions.

"There's a specialist on the citadel, names 'Fade', he's an expert on help people 'disappear.' Sidonis was seen with him." his face, half covered in shadow.

"I'll send the Normandy to the coordinates, but are you sure you want to do this?"

"You humans have a phrase 'an eye for an eye a life for a life,' he owes me ten good lives, I plan to collect."

"Where do we find Fade?" she asked leaning back on her heels.

"I've arranged a meeting, at one of the warehouses on Zakara ward. Thanks Shepard, I appreciate you taking the time to help." He turned and walked back into the Main Battery leaving her standing in front of the sleeper pods.

* * *

><p>"Fade? I imagined you... a little taller," she said, eyebrow raised.<br>"Kill them, you stupid mountain. Kill them!" the volus' voice managed to shriek, even through the layers of manipulation.

"You two might want to find a new job," her voice broke into a husky threat, with her and Garrus pointing their guns at the bulks of muscle.

They left, leaving a sweating volus behind.

It took only a little bit more threatening in order for the volus to confess.

"I'm not Fade." the volus blurted out, "he's not here."

"Derp."

"Harkin thinks hiring the Blue Suns will help protect him," the volus paced.

"Harkin? You mean the irate drunk asshole who called me princess?" her voice raised slightly in curiosity, "Damn, meeting Fade just got ten times more fun."

* * *

><p>The mechs head exploded in a spray of parts.<p>

The three of them sprinted into the room separating the two parts of the warehouse.

"Fade's in there, I can smell him," his eyes narrowing.

"You can smell the ethanol from here too?" she quipped, "I thought I was the only one."

He merely grunted in reply.

"Your tense, Garrus," She asked, her voice slipping into a concerned tone.

"Harkin might know why Sidonis wanting to escape, if he does, than he knows why we're here. I don't want him tipping Sidonis off," he said, peering out the window.

"What are you going to do with Harkin?" she asked.

"He's a criminal now. I could just shoot him on sight. But I won't, I need him to talk first," he growled.

"Did you see that?" she asked, spotting movements behind one of the crates.

"Yeah, don't know what it was though," he rumbled in reply.

* * *

><p>She crouched her way to the position by the door. Waiting for Garrus to get into position. Receiving the signal, her legs straightened out, and she walked confidently into the room.<p>

As Harkin tried to run, a bulky shape appeared by the door. Grabbing him by the collar, pushing him forcefully against the wall.

"So, 'Fade' couldn't make yourself disappear," he snarled.

"Garrus, Buddy, we can work this out," he gasped.

"I'm looking for a turian named Sidonis," he said, letting go, Harkin sliding down the wall. "Yeah, yeah, I know who he," he said, "And I'm not telling you anything."

"Harkin, this doesn't have to be hard," Shepard said, crossing her arms.

"Screw you," he spat, "I don't give out private information, it's bad for business."

"You know what else is bad for business," he snarled, placed his foot on Harkin's neck, "A broken neck."

"Okay, okay," Harkin relented, "I'll tell you where he is."

Shepard placed her hand on his shoulder, concern glinting through her eyes, as the human walked over to a terminal and started arranging a meeting with the turian.

"I set up a meeting with him. He'll be meeting you at the.." as the human talked, Garrus' hand moved to his gun.

"Now that we're all done. I'll be leaving now." he said while gesturing towards the door.

"I don't think so," Garrus snarled, "You're a criminal now."

"So, you're going to kill me. That's not your style."

"Kill you? No, but I don't mind slowing you down," Garrus pointed his gun at Harkin's knee.

Her hand whipped out and gripped his hands with a force that took him by surprise. Wrenching the gun up, she shook her head at him. He pulled his hand away.

"I guess today is your lucky day."

"Yeah I hope to do it again real soon."

With a crack and a splash of red. Harkin crumbled to the ground.

"What? I didn't shoot him."

* * *

><p>"We shouldn't have let him go. He's a criminal now."<p>

"You were a little harsh with Harkin," she bluntly said.

"You don't think he deserved it."

"It's just not like you," she said, eyes observing something he couldn't see.

"What do you want from me, Shepard?" his voice dropped into a whisper, "What would you do if someone betrayed you?"

"I'm not sure but I wouldn't let it change me," face turned towards him, an unfamiliar emotion dancing across her face.

'I would've said the same thing before it happened to me."

"It's not too late, you don't have to go through with this."

"Who's going to bring Sidonis to justice if I don't? Nobody else knows what he's done. Nobody else cares,"

"I don't see any other options." his face turned away, drawn with shadow accentuating the scars from the merc ship.

"Let me talk to him," How could she do this, find the good in people even when it wasn't there.

"Talk all you want, but it won't change my mind. I don't care what his reasons were. He screwed us... he deserves to die."

"I understand what you're going through but do you really want to kill him?"

"I appreciate your concern. But I'm not you," he said.

"This isn't you either," she said still in the same calm tone she had when ordering parts.

"Really?" he nearly snorted, "I've always hated injustice. The thought that Sidonis could get away with this..."

"Why should he go on living when ten good men lie in unmarked graves?" he spat, "I'm sorry Shepard, words aren't going to fix this problem."

"I need to set up."

* * *

><p>"There he is," he peered through his scope, mandibles twitching in anticipation, "Call him over and keep him talking."<p>

"Listen Sidonis, I'm here to help you."

"Don't ever say that name out loud."

"I'm a friend of Garrus'. He wants to kill you but I'm hoping that's not necessary,"rage built up in him like a beast clawing up his guts.

"Damnit, Shepard. If he moves I'm taking the shot." As the turian began to walk away from Shepard, he realigned his shot only to be foiled by Shepard grabbing him by the arm.

"Listen I'm the only thing that's standing between you and a hole in the head." she calmly said.

"Everyone has a choice," he snarled after hearing Sidonis attempt to explain it, his hands shaking.

"Let me take the shot, Shepard. He's a damn coward." his lungs began demanding excessive amounts of oxygen. I wake up... sick. and sweating, each one of their faces staring at me, Accusing me. I'm already a dead man, I can't sleep. Food has no taste. Sometimes I wish it all to be over. I know what I did. I know that they died because of me. I have to live with that." Garrus looked away, his rage slipping away.

"Just give me the shot," he pleaded, knowing if she pressed the issue that he would walk away, Sidonis alive.

"Look at him, Garrus," she turned to him and looked him straight in the eye, "He's not alive. There's nothing left to kill."

"Just... go. tell him to go." he turned away from her, exhausted, yearning for this to end.

He pressed his back against the wall and slipped to the floor, head in hands, grieving for his men in silence.

* * *

><p>AN I'm sorta craving oneshots. So if I post a oneshot don't be surprised. Also I have no idea if this idea is going into ME3. As I'm not planning to buy it. It wouldn't be out until a long time after ME3 release. Unless I manage to borrow it from somewhere. I have a bunch of Drabbles that would be posted at the end and covers my thoughts on some spoilers I've heard so far.


	5. Authors note

I'd like to thank everyone for reading this story so far. And I apologize for not updating in a while but I'm going through a tough spot in life lately and haven't written much. I appreciate you for reading it anyway and hopefully my life will start turning itself around. If I had to guess I would say that there is probably three chapters left, not counting a page of drabbles at the end. I would like to finish this before September when I have to go back to school. Thank you for being patient and waiting for me while I deal with lifecrap, and also for reading my story.


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